Are Your Field Visits Reactive or Proactive?

Your field team plays a vital role in the success of your organization. They are your eyes and ears in the field, so when their process is outdated, that lag time only increases as information is passed back and forth, up and down the chain. This traditionally, paper-based, “going through the motions” process is like a poor internet connection between locations and management. Information is slow to be sent and received, leaving everyone constantly in a reactive mode, struggling to catch up.

Most of the clients we bring on board have always been in reactive mode with their field visits, so everything sees like business as usual. We contend there is a better way…a much better way. Here are a few of the major differences organizations see when they use the right tools, like the Action Card app, to take their field visit processes from reactive to proactive….

Consider the Cost of Preventing an Issue vs the Cost of Fixing a Problem After the Fact

This consideration is applicable in many scenarios, but let’s just take a common, simple issue like a crack in the sidewalk. Employees might walk over that crack a hundred times and never mention it…why would they? It takes one trip to make this seemingly “nothing” issue, into a big freakin’ deal. These issues are easy for field visit manager to detect, but if your process is slow and lacking accountability, who knows how long it could take to get this issue reconciled? The cost after a problem occurs is far more considerable than detecting and reconciling issues immediately.

Consider How Often You’ve Lost Customers Because of the Lag Time Associated With Reconciling Issues

A big target market for us is gas stations. There are about a million and one things a gas station manager needs to stay on top of at any time during their day, so field visits are insanely important for this particular industry to keep everything on track and instill accountability. They need to track things like messy counters, dirty floors, disheveled product displays, unstocked window wash stations, and messy bathrooms, just to name a few. Gas stations see a large amount of foot traffic, so there has to be a very proactive process in place to avoid issues that drive customers away. These areas are really important to gas station customers. They probably have several options along their daily commute. What are you doing to keep their business?

Consider How Many Good Employees You’ve Lost Due to Lag Time in Employee Recognition

We aren’t just about customer-facing accountabilities; the Action Card app has a very user-friendly dashboard that can allow users to spot trends across regions, identify top performers and target the locations and employees that need help. Are you doing anything to make sure your star employees and managers are going to stay put? Do you even know who they are? You should! Human capital is your number one asset. If you’re still operating on a paper-based system, employee recognition could take weeks between the field visit and application. With cloud-based report sharing, employee recognition can be instant, encouraging the actions that the employee is being recognized for.

Proaction is essential in business to retain employees, keep customers coming back, and safeguarding your organization from a bad reputation, or worse, litigation. Are you ready to ditch your slow, antiquated, paper-based field visit process and get proactive? Let’s talk about it! .